Professor Tim Benton
Distinguished Fellow, Environment and Society Centre
Biography
Professor Tim G. Benton is a distinguished fellow in the Environment and Society Programme at Chatham House, having served as research director and head of the Centre since 2019.
As a leading advocate on food systems transformation, he has worked with UK governments, the EU, G20 and a range of other governments around the world, as well as leading businesses and civil society organizations. He has been a global agenda steward of the World Economic Forum, and was an author of the IPCC’s Special Report on Food, Land and Climate (2019), and the UK’s Climate Change Risk Assessment (2017, 2022).
He has published more than 200 academic papers, many tackling how systems respond to environmental change. His work on sustainability leadership has been recognized with an honorary fellowship of the UK’s Society for the Environment, and a doctorate honoris causa from the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium. He also remains a (part time) research professor at the University of Leeds.
Past experience
| 2016–2019 | Distinguished visiting fellow, Energy, Environment and Resources, Chatham House |
| 2016–2019 | Dean for strategic research initiatives, University of Leeds |
| 2011–2016 | Champion, UK’s Global Security Programme |
| 2008–2011 | Pro-dean for research, Faculty of Biological Science, University of Leeds |
| 2005–2008 | Head of institute, University of Leeds and Professor of ecology |
| 2003–2005 | Senior lecturer, University of Aberdeen |
| 1996–2003 | Lecturer and senior lecturer, University of Stirling |
| 1994–1996 | Editor, Popular Science, Cambridge University Press |
| 1992–1994 | Researcher, University of East Anglia |
| 1990–1992 | Hon fellow, zoology, University of Cambridge |
| 1986–1990 | PhD, University of Cambridge |
| 1983–1986 | BA, University of Oxford |
